The following Poem was written when I was 18 years old in 1980. I jotted it down the first six lines in my journal three weeks before my mother Barbara Jean (Bleacher) Parry was killed as a passenger in a single car accident.
She had come for a visit it was to be our last. While walking about the Campus of the College of San Mateo, a (John Karl Warnecke design) she marveled at the stately buildings and waxed nostalgic of her college years at U.C. Berkeley. As the Campanile chimed the hour She said ” I do not know whats next for me now, I feel like my work here is done”.
And so it was, but mine had really just begun…
Our life is a war,
Our mind the battlefield,
Our thoughts the weapons,
Our decisions the out-come,
.
Life or death?
Choose life!
.
Say’s I.
“See, I have set before you today
life and good,
death and evil…
The blessing and the curse.
.
Therefore choose life,
So that you and your descendants may live…,
For He is your life.”*
.
Say’s Moses.
.
.
“Ill baptize you with fire so you can sin no more,
I’ll establish my rule through Civil War”.
.
Sings Bob Dylan**,
.
“So it is, and so it shall be,
for so it has been,
time out of mind.”
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Say’s Edna St. Vincent Milley.***
.
(*Deuteronomy 30:15-20 (TLV))
(*From “Bye and Bye” on -Love & Theft by Bob Dylan 2002)
(***From Dirge without music by Edna St. Vincent Milley)
Copy-write & Published 4.12.2019: Added Dylan quote & re-published 5.26.2023;added intro & re-published 7.20.2023; Re-posted 3.13.2024
works of words 
After my grandmother died. I found 10 pages of letters and photos. My Uncle fought in the Civil war. His letters are amazing. He told the real story. He was a Captain and was killed at Jonesville. He served the South. His letter told of how both North and South would work together to bury the dead. Trade for food and needs. We must remember the past. Thank you for sharing the worthwhile story.
Thank you John for your comments. Our nation is on the brink again, our hearts caught in the cross fire like before.
“Our life is a war,
Our mind the battlefield,
Our thoughts the weapons,
Our decisions the out-come,”
But we are all so blessed to be in control of that WAR and assure ourselves the positive outcome.
Thank you for sharing your poem.